ABILENE, Texas — According to health professionals, West Texas is experiencing a critical shortage of blood supply.
Kelsey Caprio, Donor Recruiter, Hendrick Health systems, says 17 regional hospitals rely on them for disbursement of blood. Caprio also says on average they need 60 donors per day in order to meet the needs of the community.
"Because of an increase in usage in the area, and a decrease in donations plus natural disasters like delta and covid- it's making it really hard for us to get help at the moment," says Caprio.
According to Caprio, having blood on the shelves can mean the difference between life and death and Hendrick is lucky to be an area who is still allowed to recruit blood donors at highschools.
Linda Grace, Donor Recruiter, for Vitalant Blood Bank in San Angelo says the pandemic has impacted their ability to collect blood and they are unable to hold blood drives at high schools.
Right now we aren't doing blood drives at high schools due to the Coronavirus, and that's a big impact because about 20% of all blood we collect comes from high school blood donors" says Grace.
Caprio strongly urges those who are feeling healthy to get out and donate, save a life.
For a list of blood drives, you can visit their websites.
https://www.vitalant.org/Home.aspx
https://www.hendrickbloodcenter.org/blood-center/blood-center-landing.aspx